“Before the weekend, an update proposal was made to increase #Cardano mainnet block size by 8K,” said Cardano development firm Input Output in a tweet. “The current block size is 80KB, and after this change, it will be 88KB.”

Blocks are batches of transactions that are confirmed and recorded on a blockchain. Larger sizes mean more transactions can be included in each batch, but it can affect transaction times and overall network capacity.

Input Output said the 10% increase in block size network would help increase data throughput and scalability. The performance of decentralized applications, or services that rely on smart contracts, on Cardano is additionally expected to improve.

Input Output added it would monitor network performance and behavior closely over the next five days to determine the next required increase in block size. The previous increase came earlier in February when block sizes expanded from 72KB to 80KB at the time.

The step comes ahead of Cardano’s eventual Basho upgrade, which would introduce sidechains on the network. Sidechains are a separate blockchain network that connect to another blockchain – called a parent blockchain or mainnet – via a two-way peg.

Meanwhile, the fundamental improvement did little to buffer the price of Cardano’s ADA token amid a declining sentiment in the broader crypto market.

ADA fell 8.3% in the past 24 hours, one of the biggest losers among major tokens, as bitcoin (BTC) lost support at $40,000 and slumped to the $38,000 level. ADA traded around the $0.90 mark on Tuesday but declined sharply to the $0.82 level on Wednesday morning before slightly recovering at press time.